Urban Renewal Project has never formally released a record and has only played a handful of gigs, mostly at Battle Of the Bands venues, but one recording they made still sometimes appear on compilation albums even today. The song "Computer Girl" was recorded along with three other songs on January 14, 1967 at Fidelity Recording Studios in Hollywood. It was also included on CD with the Japanese semi-biography from 2006, which was compiled and released by Youchi Kishino.

The three other songs that were recorded on the same day but never released were "The Windmill", "A Quick Thought", and "As You Like It". The four songs were pressed and taken home by the band on two acetates. Of these four songs, "Computer Girl" is the least conventional, the other three songs are heavily influenced by the zeitgeist. Ron Mael played lead lead guitar at the time, which is particulary noticable during "A Quick Thought". Russell was the singer and also played tambourine and harmonica. On "A Quick Thought" he also plays the panflute. Ron and Russell's stepfather Oscar "Roggie" Roganson was the band's manager at the time.

 

There are various stories of how the Maels met Mankey. In the official Bearsville Biography from December 1972, it is claimed that the Maels followed an ad in which Earle had advertised for a recording studio and when they came over there, Earle also tried to convince the Maels to hire him as a guitar player (at $ 2.50 an hour).       

According to other sources, it was the Maels who actually put a "guitarist wanted" ad and Earle Mankey responded to that. I realise these are all pointless details but what is important is the fact that this meeting resulted in the creation and making of music. It was obvious, that the Maels and Mankey were a perfect combination. Ron and Russell, the latter whom was quite active as a composer in these days as well, supplied the perfect melodies and lyrics for Earle to put into weird arrangements and several over-dubs, speed-up guitars and more refreshing recording gimmicks.                        

Russell and Earle recording the Halfnelson Demo Album, 1969

A drummer was found in the person of John Mendelsohn, who was in Russell's class and a bass player was added, John's friend Ralph Oswald. It is however, very likely that Ralph was involved after the recordings for this demo had already begun and that most of the bass lines were actually played by Russell, who, still today claims that he started off as a bass player. 

 

All the songs for the demo, which had no proper title, were written by the Maels. Two very persistent rumours kept flying around for years; the first one was that the demo album was also called “A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing”, just like Sparks’ official second album. The other rumour was that Ron designed the sleeve, depicting someone flying in front of the Eiffel Tower on a surfboard under a bright moon. This image has given some later artists (and Sparks fans) inspiration to design their own interpretation of this cover, which actually never existed, according to Harley Feinstein, the drummer on Sparks first two official albums, who joined the band as they were mixing the demo album.

 

Still, in an article as early as October 1970, there is really talk about both a sleeve as described above and the title "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing", two years before the release of the official one. This title must have been floating around in those early days but apparantly, never used until the second Bearsville album.

 

Harley Feinstein: “The acetate just had a plain white label on it. No art, graphics, anything just plain white. It was given to record  executives in a box with pictures, promotional material, etc. The box was a large replica of an order pad that a waitress in a cafe might have. I guess the concept was you could check off the appropriate item on the order form and order up a steaming hot portion of Halfnelson. I never owned one of the boxes. And I never heard the phrase "Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing" until the second album came out. It wasn't intended to be a demo. It was intended to be an album. After completion they intended to find a record company to sign with. Mike Berns financed the production of the album.”

 

Halfnelson's main inspirations were English, or English-sounding bands of the mid-60's like The Kinks, The Move, John's Children, The Who, Tomorrow and Pink Floyd, sounds that are easily traceable on Halfnelson's official first album. However, the songs recorded for the demo album clearly indicate that the Maels had not listened to the above-mentioned bands only.

 

Music much closer to them, both geographically and culturally, had influenced them much more than they'd probably care to realise themselves. Traces of The Doors, The Mamas & The Papas, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Beach Boys and even Jimi Hendrix could easily be found on the twelve songs that were recorded for their early demo album.

Rumour is, that about one hundred copies of the demo were hand-pressed onto vinyl and the album was sent out to record companies. None of them reacted positively, if at all. 

 

Ron Mael about this: "We still thought that what we were doing at the time was really regular stuff. It wasn't until we sent it out that we discovered we'd been deceiving ourselves."

Joseph Fleury: "The album turned up on bootleg some time later, called "California Folk Songs" and it was really psychedelic. Tomorrow meets Syd Barret meets Frank Zappa." 

 

In 1997, the album suddenly turned up at an English Sparks fan, who was a friend of mine. He claims that it was just there on his doormat one afternoon, burnt on a cd-r with no further message but accompanied by a white glove. After listening, he couldn't believe what he had just received and had no idea from whom. He decided to only share it with one other friend and me and for over two years, we had to keep it a secret, even to my closest Sparks friends, until one day, the cat was out of the bag and it turned up from various sides on the internet. Only then we decided it was time to share it with other Sparks friends as well but the origin is still a mystery.

Before I actually received it, the friend who gave it to me described it as "exactly the music that you would expect from an album recorded before the official Halfnelson  album." 

 

And it is. Sparks' earliest demo album is an amazing piece of work, much better and more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. It actually does sound exactly the way you would have expected it to sound, only better. There are two songs on it, which are early versions of songs that we all know: "Roger" and "Saccharin And The War", both penned by Russell. All the other songs have never been released before or after, for that matter.  

Different interpretations of the Halfnelson sleeve. The very last one is Harley Feinstein's original copy of the album, without the sleeve/box.

 

Review

Chile Farm Farney (1:27)
The album opens with a very cheerful song in which Ron's piano playing is very much like he'd later do on the Island albums and which turned out to be such a distinctive feature on Sparks songs. Russell's (?) bass lines are very much present as Earle's guitar's clearly there. The keyboard does not sound as an organ in this song, where it does in most other tracks on the album. Russell's voice is very recognisable and any fan would immediately pick out this song as typical Sparks. If there should be made a comparison to another era, I would have to say that this song probably sounds the most like what Sparks would do during their Island years. 

Johnny's Adventure (2:52)
This song I instantly liked very much. It starts off with Ron's organ only, after which Russell joins in. For about 10 seconds, it's only Ron's organ and Russell's voice. A heavy bass line and a clearly speed-up guitar are added, the latter also appearing later in the song as a solo instrument. The song is built up by variations in tempo and ends in a cacophony of sounds with a prominent role for the guitar which sounds like a bomb exploding. The very last seconds of the song contain Russell's multiple serene voices slowly fading out. There are no drums on this song. 

Russell on bass guitar during the recordings of the Demo Album

 

Roger (2:28)
Roger is the first song that we all (at least most of us) will know. The version is not all that different from the later album version, although it is very easy to hear how Earle has played with his tape recorder to speed up his guitar to create funny sounds. The rhythm is, like on the official version, done by cymbals and the sounds of drum sticks on half-empty (or half-full, if you're that kind of person) bottles. The bass guitar is quite unnoticeable. With this original only being 2 seconds shorter than the official version, it is clear that Todd Rundgren did not change too much on this song. Todd recently said in the Edgar Wright documentary The Sparks Brothers, that he felt he should only made it sound a bit more hifi, but didn't want to mess with the actual arrangements too much.

 

Arts & Crafts Spectacular (2:33)
When I first heard this song and I didn't know the name of the tracks yet, I was convinced the title was "Lovely Claudine Jones". It wasn't. The first song of the album that actually contains drums, although I'm not so sure what kind of drums were used. The Maels later always claimed that they used cardboard boxes for drum kits and I'm inclined to believe them after having heard this song. This song is an absolute gem and it includes Russell's multi-vocals in such a way that it almost makes this song mystical. Again, they change regularly from up-tempo to a more modest tempo, and Ron's organ is very prominent indeed. 

What strikes me most on this album is the fact that they never ever play the rhythm guitar. All instruments, with the exception of the keyboards are almost used fragmentally, like splintered sound bites coming together occassionally to create the perfect finishing touch. You hear a guitar when you least expect it and you're waiting in vain for the bass line to join in. Russell's vocals all over the album are remarkable and immediately recognisable. No other person could have sung the way he sang these lines.

 

Landlady (2:41)
Landlady starts off with a vocal cacophony in which probably even Ron joined in. The whole song is very atmospheric and mystical and it somehow reminds me of something that could have been played at the house of the Adams Family. Sinister and fascinating at the same time, with beautiful guitar riffs from Earle and a heavy bass line. And there's always Ron's organ, very, very noticeable. Beautiful song. 

The Animals At Jason's Bar & Grill (2:36)
If one song should be mentioned as being influenced by The Kinks, it's probably this one. Cheerful, up-tempo with very funny lyrics. Again, hardly any drums but a lot of harmony vocals, probably all by Russell. Fragmental guitar riffs by Earle and Ron using his keyboard as a piano again, for a change. Lovely track. 

Big Rock Candy Mountain (1:29)
Amazing song, this one. Didn't sound like Sparks at all at first. It's said that Earle actually is doing the lead vocals on this track, which is quite possible. Reminded me very much of the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Mamas & Papas. The main instruments are actually Ron's keyboard and the bass line while it contains Russell's first attempt to match the sound of an opera singer, which he masters quite well. Modest applause has been included for that. One of my favourites.

Millie (2:07)
Catchy, up-tempo tune but tends to get slightly monotonous after having heard it a number of times. This is probably also due to the fact that the recording is kind of shrill. The melody is lovely though and apart from all the regular instruments that were used for this album, I think I can hear marimbas as well. The lyrics are rather funny: "Your honour/We were actors in a drama/Millie's monologues were not too bad/My Greek tragedies were always sad".

Saccharine And The War (2:36)
This version of the song which also appears on the Halfnelson album is much more laid back than the later recording. It has a funny guitar riff and the bass guitar is also more noticeable. Again, Todd, did not change all that much from the original version, except for speeding it up a little and making it sound a bit more professional. Liked the song when I heard the official version and still like it now. Don't ask me which version I'd prefer however, as I genuinely wouldn't know. 

Join The Firm (3:53)
Now this one really sounds a lot like some of the psychedelic Doors songs. Very prominent organ, heavy bass lines, some guitar riffs and a lot of multiple vocals. Mystical, atmospheric again. What the hell were they trying to prove? Great song though, one of my favourites. Hard to describe really, it should be listened to instead. 

Jane Church(3:27)
Ron really gets the chance to try out whether his piano lessons were any good to him. Although he's using the keyboard as an organ again, this was probably the most difficult song for him to play. Beautiful ensemble playing between him and Earle. This is a perfect example of how chaos and slight hysteria can be captured in a wonderful tune. Probably my favourite of the album, since, despite its chaotic approach, it strikes me as a very romantic song.

The Factory (2:32)
Despite its beautiful title, this song is hard to swallow and it's probably one of Sparks' (or Halfnelson, if you like) least accessible song ever recorded. The song seems to lack structure and if you hear it for the first time, you might consider it as just a bunch of noise. This song however, as the whole album is very typical for that specific time and place. It's ultimately dated and that's what probably makes it so beautiful as Sparks never did sound dated and they probably didn't when they were recording this. Harley Feinstein's favourite of the album.

Whether it was on purpose or unconsciously, Halfnelson has captured the spirit of the late psychedelic Sixties perfectly with the recording of this demo. It includes both chaos and harmony (Vietnam vs Flower Power), conventional and renewing sounds (influences by the above-mentioned bands vs Ron's refreshing piano techniques (mind you; not the organ)) and Russell's theatrical approach), And then there's the lyrics, which already hesitatingly indicate the true genius of Ron Mael that would clearly come out after his career as a composer/musician finally took off properly. 

For real Sparks collectors, this album is indispensable. If you're not too fond of any pre-Moroder recordings, you shouldn't bother. Why and by whom this album was brought under the attention of my English friend, I do not know. I just would like to thank whoever made it possible to enable us to listen to it nowadays, including the musicians obviously, as for me, it has been and still is a walk on memory lane of a memory I never even was a part of.

Ruud Swart - 1998 (edited March 2023)

 

Edit December 28, 2021

During the making of The Sparks Brothers, the documentary about Ron and Russell by Edgar Wright, a meeting was arranged between the Maels and Todd Rundgren. At the meeting, Ron and Russell brought the original package of the Halfnelson Demo Album with them, a copy of which was still in Russell's possession. Below some photos of that meeting with the original box in which the album was delivered. Apart from the album, there were also small items included like popcorn, photos of the band, postcards and other small things. The back of the postcards reads "Halfnelson's swell". After 51 years, the mystery is finally solved.